"Lost in the Mail"

Hi Folks,

Over the years, I have come across the situation where a print was sent, but not received - yes, folks, it was "lost in the mail". Assuming everyone is truthful, what is the expectation of the sender? Is the sender obligated to send another print, even if it's not their fault the print was lost? The cost of the print and the mailing could be expensive. Or is the recipient out of luck here. Want to get people's thoughts on this.

Reason is that I want to update the 'rules' for the blind print exchange so that, for future rounds:

Senders understand that if their print is lost in the mail, they need to send another one.

OR

Recipients understand that if their print is lost in the mail, they are SOL.

It's not pretty for either party one way or another. Thoughts? Advice? Wisdom of the sages only. No wits from the peanut gallery

If the print was of value, in fact anything of value, should be ship with tracking and insured. In that case I would send another print provided you can recoup your cost of the lost print from the insurance.

If the recipient does not want to pay a little extra for insurance then I vote SOL

Last edited by dbonamo; 07-17-2008 at 08:19 PM. Click to view previous post history.

I don't envy you, Art. I think it would be the right thing to do, to send a replacement, all things being equal. If the first replacement doesn't show up, then the recipient is definitely SOL. I don't know if I'd make it mandatory though - if the print exchange theme is "oversized prints" or "labor-intensive alt-processes", where it could take multiple days and/or cost a small fortune to reprint and remail, then I wouldn't make it mandatory. If you set a rule that all print exchange prints must be smaller than 11x14, then the replacement cost and mailing cost would not be as steep, and you could mandate 1st replacements.

My guess is most folks wouldn't mind sending another print (at least I wouldn't mind), but I don't think one should be obligated to send another.

I agree with that 100%.

(Still learning new acronyms every day... Had to look up SOL first, then voted for that one, even if only for lack of a better choice.)

Things get lost in the mail. That happens. Bad luck. For the Postcard Exchange, I always print a few spares for such cases. I think most APUGers wouldn't mind sending a print again, but I don't think you should make that obligatory. (For example, if I run out of spare prints, I may not have the opportunity to create some more prints at short notice...)

By the way, Art, your Ode to Polaroid print seems to be lost in the mail... :o (Sorry, I just couldn't resist this reminder... )

shuttr.net
-- A sinister little midget with a bucket and a mop / Where the blood goes down the drain --

If a print is lost in the mail, it's the sender's option whether to send a replacement print.

If the print was actually sent, it just the luck of the draw for the recipient, but if the print was never sent--it's doubtful that a "second" print would be sent. So if a good faith effort was made by the sender, it should be up to that photographer to make the decision--based on availability/amount of work/postage.

Generally, the risk of what happens in shipment of goods is the responsibility of the recipient. But, usually the recipient is paying for the shipping, and has the option of adding insurance or tracking to reduce the risk, but this is not the case in our exchanges.
I think it might be resonable to request that people sending prints add whatever tracking service is available. For U.S. domestic mail, delivery confirmation is only $0.65, and I think it's safe to assume that the sender values his print by at least that much.
The tracking doesn't guarantee delivery, but at least the recipient, or the sender has a way of getting the Post to figure out what happened.

If a print is lost in the mail, it's the sender's option whether to send a replacement print.

I think that's reasonable. I suspect most people would be willing to send another print. The unfortunate cases will be one of a kind things like Polaroids, particularly if one runs out of Polaroid material, very large prints, and expensive/difficult processes like carbon.